Just a quick question. About 10 years ago my family and I migrated to Australia from Malaysia. I was then asked by my dad to obtain Australian citizenship shortly after for certain purposes.

I have never formally renounced my Malaysian citizenship (ie never submitted any formal forms to the Malaysian govt).

I am curious as to whether I can still 'covertly' maintain my Malaysian citizenship in this case?

I still have my old IC card from my high school days (ie the pre-MyKad one).

I also have my Malaysian passport too, most likely expired now.

However, I have flown into Malaysia a couple of times now using my Australian passport.

What would qualify me in the eyes of the Malaysian govt as being a 'Malaysian' still? I'd venture to guess that I'd need to update my IC into a MyKad and somehow renew my Malaysian passport??

And lastly, is any of this strictly illegal in the eyes of the Malaysian law? Ie what would happen to me if I was caught out by the Malaysian govt for trying to maintain my Malaysian citizenship? I would have thought at the very worst, they'd only reject my application, but no problems as I can always fall back on my Australian citizenship and passport. Am I right in my assumptions?

I have the same question as you Seeking. Mykad renewal which I did a few months ago wasn't a problem, and this was a renewal from an IC dating back to 1995. Am a bit nervy about getting a passport as well, and would appreciate getting an answer to this. Like Seeking, my Malaysian passport expired about 12-13 years ago too and have been traveling back to Malaysia on my oz passport since 1999. Will the officers turn a blind eye or grill us with questions?

The other major concern, assuming Seeking and I can obtain our new passports is..... will the immigration officer/autogate flag us if we do subsequently enter Malaysia with our new Malaysian passport? Bear in mind that we would not have an exit stamp out of Malaysia (well unless you count the one going back 15 years ago in my case (1998).

Please someone, come through for us and respond...Thanks guys.

0 found this helpful

Helpful

answered on Sep 23, 2013 at 15:44by Seeking

Hey Dyingtocomeback, good to see that there are a few of us in the same situation so maybe we can find a solution together. I can answer with a certain amount of certainty (though not absolute, given that there is always a small element of risk with these things), that if we do successfully renew our MY passports, you would not leave the country with your new MY passport.

My friends who have been in similar situations (the difference being that they did not allow their MY passports to lapse or expire) say that after you get your new/renewed MY passport, leave the country on the same passport that you entered the country in (i.e. Australian passport). On your next visit to Malaysia, enter through a 3rd country like Brunei or Thailand (they do not recommend Singapore as these guys are sharper than an eagle), for which you will get a stamp from the country you are coming in from since leaving Australia on an Australian passport will not get us a stamp in our MY passport. So for example, leave Aussie with your Aussie passport, then head to Thailand, enter Thailand with your MY passport, exit Thailand with your MY passport and then enter MY with your MY passport. A little bit more cumbersome but worth the time given that this reduces the risk of being red flagged tremendously.

Feel your anguish brother, have been cracking my head over this for a while now. Thanks for the quick response as well.

My only question with regards to your friends would be whether or not they entered Malaysia with their active Malaysian passports all along, or whether they made the mistake (like we did) of entering the country with their foreign passports? Although, I suppose it wouldn't effect them as the next time they enter, they could then enter with their Malaysian passports as it would still be active.

Our issue would be the lack of an outgoing stamp on our newly acquired Malaysian passport (assuming that we can only acquire this new passport in Malaysia) from KLIA or any other Malaysian exit point, as we would have left Malaysia with the Aussie passport that we came in with. So, once we enter Malaysia next with our new Malaysian passport (via a third country) will the fact that we do not have an exit stamp from Malaysia on it raise a flag?

Nangka busuk offered a solution earlier on to Gatal Fellow, and based on his solution, we should be ok, but there is till a lingering doubt in my mind. Maybe I'm over thinking things lol.

0 found this helpful

Helpful

answered on Sep 23, 2013 at 17:33by Seeking

Hey Dyingtocomeback. Good to see your response too. Spoke to my friend in the same situation (Aussie/MY passports) and she said that she had been going back to MY on her MY passport only. She thinks the renewal itself won't be a problem because she still had her Aussie PR sticker in her old MY passport when she renewed it and they didn't even ask or bother looking. But it's the use of it that we will need to rethink. Apparently re-entering Malaysia through one of the less strict border controls, like East Malaysia, or a smaller town with a lost cost carrier from somewhere like Thailand, Brunei or Indonesia, helps as they will simply look, stamp and you'd be on your own. I was told that I am thinking too much, but then it's only natural.

One thing I did think of was whether you have the same names on both passports? As Malaysian passports follow the name on your birth certificate, unless your Christian name was on the birth certificate your passport would likely only include your non-Christian name. Which may or may not be the same on your Aussie passport?

I honestly think the names on the passport don't matter too much, and immigration departments cannot identify people via the name of the person, as there could be multiple people with the exact same name but may be of varying nationalities.

My fear like yours when it comes to renewing our Malaysian passport would be if they probe and ask a lot of questions as to the reasons for the gap between the last expiration and the current renewal. They could also ask us why the last stamp on our old Malaysian passport was an exit one and not an entry one. Unlikely but you never know I guess...

Alternatively, I guess we can make a police report claiming that we have lost the old passport and hopefully this should negate any further questioning.

Can someone in the know please advice us if the passport office can see the complete historical list of ins and outs (coming in and going out of Malaysia) of an individual when the details of the person is keyed into the system.

Also, assuming we can get new Malaysian passports, will we be flagged when we enter Malaysia the next time around as we would not have left Malaysia with our newly acquired passports, but rather with our Aussie passports (so no exit stamp out of Malaysia)? Please advice us guys.

When you renewed your Malaysian passport, did they ask you any questions and did they ask you to present your expired one? Also, if you don't mind me asking, when did your old Malaysian passport expire?

Thanks

0 found this helpful

Helpful

answered on Oct 1, 2013 at 23:34by Bnym

edited Dec 18, 2017 at 04:14

Sorry for the late reply. I didn't check it until now. My Malaysian passport expired in 2006. My IC was the old laminated IC. I renewed that no problem in 2009.

When I renewed my passport, I told them it was lost. And then they tried to search under my IC. For some reason they couldn't find any record of me. So they just reissued me a new passport. Not sure why they couldn't find any record.

I guess I generate more questions than answers.

0 found this helpful

Helpful

answered on Oct 2, 2013 at 13:43by Seeking

Hi Bnym

Thanks for the update about your passport. I (and I think "Dyingtocomeback") are in the same situation. I had my old blue laminated IC renewed no problem, and am now getting ready to renew a passport that expired 12 years ago. I was also thinking of reporting it as lost. When you did this, did you have to make a police report, and if so, did you have to provide much details about how you lost it? And more importantly, did they check when you last left/entered the country? Our concern is that they may see that we left Malaysia all those years ago but "never came back" on our Malaysian passports. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply Bnym. It has given me a lot more confidence to go ahead and apply for a new passport now. In your case, why don't you try entering the auto-gate with your new Malaysian passport the next time you come to Malaysia. If it doesn't let you in, then you just have to walk around to one of the immigration officers and get in with your Aussie passport. So you can test the waters by doing this as I'm pretty sure they don't have officers monitoring the auto-gate area. I'm considering doing this when/if I can get a new passport.

0 found this helpful

Helpful

answered on Oct 2, 2013 at 17:32by Seeking

Dyingtocomeback, when will you be renewing your passport? Will you try reporting it as lost and apply for a new one based on that with your IC and birth certificate?